atlantis re iss spacestation

[wendilla]

I have watched Atlantis dock to the ISS Spacestation to day on the Nasa sites.Does it stay attached to the spacestation until lift off to come back to earth.Also seen super 3 min sighting in England tonight at 6 15 then there was a sighting of Progress at 6 27 pm.Have been watching lots of take off and landings and all the sightings here when clear skies.

[Teddio]

It will stay docked to the ISS for most of the time. When it detaches you may be able to see Atlantis and the ISS as two separate satellites with the naked eye.
If you want to see really spectacular satellites look up predictions for the "Iridium Flares" on the website www.heavens-above.com These can be thirty times brighter than the planet Venus.

[wendilla]

Thanks for your reply.Yes have seen them both with naked eye here on friday and quite a few times in the past.I do have the heavens above page but thanks for reminding me about it keep forgetting to check it .I usually go straight to nasa landings page

[Cetti]

Hi wendilla and Teddio.

I missed the sighting at 6.15 but saw it very plainly at 7.17pm. Now I'm confused - was it the space station I saw or something else? Whatever it is the times are the same every night this week.

[Teddio]

Hi Cetti. The orbital period for the ISS and the Space shuttle is approximately 90 minutes. A sighting at (say) 5.30 should be followed by one at 7.00. However the pass at 8.30 won't be visible as the satellites will be in the Earth's shadow.

[Cetti]

Thanks Teddio, I didn't realise it came round twice in two hours. Aren't we lucky to have such a good view?